Great History of the Manor Bouchove Part 1: Small Village in the Big World

Pith Schure

Description

We live in a house in the centre of a small village. With its stately facades and turret, the villagers sweetly call it chatelet. Before us, French noblesse stayed in it, gentry with impressive estates in France. During numerous holiday trips, we located and documented all of it. But that didn't give an answer to the question: How to present it in a digestible...no, into a captivating manner?How to abridge the centuries and how to connect the turbulent history of Europe with everyday life in the village?For that purpose, I introduced a family of estate stewards employed by the Masters of Bouchove. After all, 'masters come and go, but stewards stay'. Besides clerks, marketers and a villain. Thus, I got a storyline and could start processing the numerous bits and pieces of information into three volumes that give the rich history of Bouchove.

Sujets

• Historical fiction

Informations

• Publié par: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Date de parution: 31 janvier 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781528945295
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

The Great History of the Manor Bouchove
Part 1: Small Village in the Big World
Pith Schure
Austin Macauley Publishers
2019-01-31
The Great History of the Manor Bouchove About the Author Dedication Copyright Information Acknowledgements Foreword Chapter 1: Paris Wednesday, July 14, 1790 Chapter 2: Up to Marolles Thursday, July 14, 1791 Chapter 3: Château Rose de Marolles Thursday, July 14, 1791 Sunday, July 31, 1791 Wednesday, September 28, 1791 Chapter 4: Morbecque Sunday, October 2, 1791 Friday, October 7, 1791 Saturday, October 8, 1791 Monday, October 10, 1791 Wednesday, October 19, 1791 Chapter 5: Marolles Between Heaven and Earth Tuesday, November 29, 1791 Wednesday, November 30, 1791 Wednesday, March 21, 1792 Sunday, March 25, 1792 Chapter 6: Strasbourg Wednesday, April 25, 1792 Chapter 7: Compiègne Sunday, July 1, 1792 Chapter 8: A Marriage in Marolles Marolles, Beginning July 1792 Friday, July 13, 1792 Saturday, July 14, 1792 Chapter 9: Marolles – Rêves Sunday, July 15, 1792 Tuesday, July 17, 1792 Chapter 10: Rêves Tuesday, July 17, 1792 Sunday, July 22, 1792 Monday, July 23, 1792 Sunday, October 6, 1792 Chapter 11: Rêves – Bouchove Saturday, November 10, 1792 Chapter 12: The Count in Bouchove Sunday, November 11, 1792 Monday, November 19, 1792 Tuesday, November 20, 1792 Monday, November 26, 1792 Tuesday, November 27, 1792 Tuesday, December 26, 1792 Monday, February 4, 1793 Thursday, March 21, 1793, and Ensuing Days Sunday, May 19, 1793 Friday, May 31, 1793 Sunday, July 14, 1793 Saturday, March 1, 1794 Sunday, July 13, 1794 Monday, July 14, 1794 Chapter 13: Bouchove Occupied Saturday, August 30, 1794 Saturday, September 27, 1794 Sunday, September 28, 1794 Monday, September 29, 1794 December 1794 Tuesday, July 14, 1795 List of Persons List of Figurants List of Places
About the Author
The author was born in Maastricht, Netherlands, before WW2. After secondary school, he moved to Wageningen to study at the Wageningen Agricultural University. That laid the basis for working in two dozen countries all over the world in the company of his wife, who gave him two girls and a boy. In 1968, he purchased a châtelet in the village of Bokhoven, that inspired him to take up local history, laying the basis for this historical novel. He stopped working in 2009 and sold the châtelet to move with his wife to a penthouse.
Dedication
To my wife.
Copyright Information
Copyright © Pith Schure (2019)
The right of Pith Schure to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781788483179 (Paperback)
ISBN 9781788483186 (Hardback)
ISBN 9781528945295 (E-Book)
www.austinmacauley.com
First Published (2019)
Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd
25 Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London
E14 5LQ
Acknowledgements
Thanks to my wife, children and those who’ve
given me guidance.
Foreword
It was on a Christmas night in the Saint John. The night this Cathedral in Brabant provides the best of what it can offer: darkness and light, wintry chill and human warmth, silence and bustle, angels singing and organ play, bread and wine, smoke and incense – in short: ‘splendor’.
In that atmosphere, I was musing about other things.
We live in a house nearby; an old house in a simple village. With its stately façades and turret, the villagers sweetly call it châtelet. We have lived there so long that the house and the village have come to life for us. All we could think of, we have amassed about it. During dozens of holiday trips, we followed the trail of the Bouchove nobility in southern resorts.
And thus opened a history of high nobility and toiling villagers. On the one hand, the small circle that lives in the big world, and on the other hand, the people who solely depend on their village and surrounding land.
A lot has already been written about the Manor Bouchove but what was missing was a complete and readable book for a wide readership. During that Christmas night, I was pondering about all that.
How could I bridge the centuries in a way that all the subsequent generations with distinguished men and elegant women would be stringing together? And how to connect the turbulent history of Europe in which they travelled with everyday life in the village?
As messages from heaven that night, I got one inspiration after the other to answer this question, ‘Hallelujah!’ I would create a number of figures whose lives would connect the separate historic facts together. Firstly, a family of estate stewards employed by the Masters of Bouchove. After all ‘ masters come and go, but stewards stay ’, besides clerks, marketers and a villain.
Thus, I got a storyline and could start processing the numerous bits and pieces of information into one volume on the rich history of Bouchove.
The story begins in 1790, on the first anniversary of the French Revolution and ends in 1928, the year in which the assets of the former manor Bouchove were sold by the last Countess. By looking back in the past, the history of a long, even very long, time before has been told. Remains mysticism. Such as the relation of La Licorne with the Virgin Mary, the existence of underground passages with spirits, a mausoleum with a countess immersed in sleep. It turns out that all comes out in a rosette in the middle of a labyrinth. In the story, the veils of all the mysteries are lifted, while insolvable riddles are left for what they are.
The writing was a pleasure in itself. Again and again, momentum had to be created to keep the stories alive, and occasionally the novel took over the lead of the historical sources. Therefore, a reliable overview of the illustrious history of the manor has been added.
Chapter 1: Paris

Wednesday, July 14, 1790
Emilie wakes up in a troubled mood. Lately, that happens to her quite often. The previous night, she fell asleep with the revolution on her mind, and during the night, she dreamed about it; and just now, she woke up with it. Her husband is sleeping quietly. He still believes firmly in his ability to lead things into the right direction. However laudable this might be, it is time that he saw the reality.
At the time, Marianne enters the room. She gestures her to remain silent, crawls out of her bed and takes over the tray to place it on the side table for Louis. With a conspiratorial look, she grabs Marianne by the arm, and together they sneak out of the bedroom.
“Let him sleep. Last night, he came home late again, and later in the day, he will go to les Tuileries. The two of us take breakfast together.” While Marianne goes to arrange breakfast in the kitchen, Emilie reads again the message that had been delivered the day before.
Back from the kitchen, Marianne finds her mistress in tears. She rushes over to her and comfortingly laying her arms around Emile’s neck, she reads over her shoulder the letter on the table.
’Madame, with all due respect to you, I cannot wait to make you aware of an imminent danger. Your spouse is today in Paris, the only aristocrat who is so valued that no one dares to openly oppose him. Unfortunately, he is an obstacle to some dark elements that want to eliminate the honourable Louis de Montmorency.
Avec.’
The message is clear, and thus the false sense of security must be left. “Reason has gone, as has civilization.” Whose life is ensured when an elected member of the Constituent Assembly, who is fully committed to the necessary reforms, is being threatened. And thus, everyone in this house is in danger, up to and including Jean in the stable, and Marie in the kitchen. Madame turns her head to Marianne. “Start preparing for a final departure from this place. For this afternoon, I want a break. Louis could bring us to town.”
* * *
It’s raining when Luc enters the restaurant on Rue St Antoine at noon. Adrien is already there for their monthly rendez-vous . “ Bonjour , how are you? Rainy day!” Already, before he is fully seated at the table, he feels that something is troubling his friend. Not that this is surprising, because almost every day something is going on since the storming of the Bastille exactly one year ago.
A can of beer within reach and seated opposite one another at a table, Luc enquires, “Well, how is it really?”
“It’s all right, let’s have something to eat.”
Alright, the guy needs some time before he can tell.
“Do you know they are placing a huge tent between the ravage on la Bastille. They expect a lot of people, and there will be a great ball. ICI ON DANSE is written in large letters on the tent, so I’m curious. They are building all kinds of kiosks, and there are cafés, stalls, etc. I’m going to have a look over there. Are you coming along with me?”

The assault on La Bastille of 14 July 1789
“I’d like to, but I really can’t, since I must leave.”
After food is being served on their table, “ Bon appétit !”
“Do not be misled by the appearance of unity. Today, they are allowed to celebrate ‘ la fête de la fédération ’, and tomorrow, they think in terms of ‘ la tempête de la ségrégation ’. It is too dangerous. Good friends insist that I leave the city immediately. So, after this lunch, I leave . ”
“Ho, ho, my friend, if it is so dangerous for you, then it is also for me!” For the first time, he gives a hearty laugh, because their positions, indeed, are not comparable at all. ‘Anne Adrien Pierre de…’, and that’s just the beginning of the name of the man opposite him. Three names are two too many nowadays,